Age Friendly South Lanarkshire
An ‘Age Friendly Community’ is one in which people of all ages actively participate in activities and where everyone is treated with respect, regardless of their age. It is a place that makes it easy for older people to stay connected to people that are important to them and it helps people stay healthy and active even at the oldest ages and provides appropriate support to those who can no longer look after themselves. The important feature of the approach is that it puts older people at the heart of decision making.
Ageism is the most prevalent form of discrimination in the UK and the development of an Age Friendly Community goes a long way to remove this discrimination in South Lanarkshire.
Being an Age Friendly Community is about taking the decision to make improvements to your place at whatever pace you can. Being Age Friendly means designing services and facilities with older people, not for them. The World Health Organisation's Age Friendly Cities Framework acts as a guide for communities to achieve this goal.
There are eight domains that make an Age Friendly Community which link with current work of the Community Planning Partnership at both a local and strategic level. These are:-
- Community and Health Care;
- Transport;
- Housing;
- Social participation;
- Outdoor spaces and buildings;
- Respect and social inclusion;
- Civic participation and employment; and
- Communication and information.
South Lanarkshire Seniors Together is a council project in association with South Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnership aimed at improving the quality of life for older people living in South Lanarkshire. They work with communities with the focus to make South Lanarkshire an ‘Age Friendly Community’.
South Lanarkshire Seniors Together have worked with the Centre for Ageing Better and the Scottish Older People’s Assembly (SOPA), who have provided support and guidance to assist them in developing their knowledge and understanding of the process required to develop an Age Friendly South Lanarkshire.
Seniors Together are proud to have been part of South Lanarkshire Council’s successful bid to become Scotland’s first Age Friendly Community.
To find out more about the work of Seniors Together and Age Friendly Communities please view the links below:
